TABOO - TRANSGRESSION - TRANSCENDENCE

An interspecies, improvisational sound performance by two human performers and a local aleppo tree. The improvisation will take place offsite, where the tree collaborator lives and will be transmitted into the conference space, in real time using equipment provided by the artists. To amplify the voice of the tree, the human artists will implement an industrial grade vibration sensor designed to test the structural integrity of city bridges, which they will attach to the body of the tree, allowing them access to a rich domain of sound that is normally inaccessible, and allowing the tree to be made audible to its human collaborators and to the audience. The sounds detected by the instrument include complex creaking, the movement of water passing through capillaries, and the footsteps of tiny insects living beneath the bark, as well as human sounds, such as the human performer’s gentle touches, taps, breathing, and strokes.

This performance is a continuation of this duo’s practice of collaborating sonically and improvisationally with trees (this would be the third in an ongoing series). By amplifying the voice of the tree, and interacting collaboratively with it, they believe that these performances can reveal to people just how much trees have to say when we actually listen to them.